TWD: Cocoa-Nana Bread

I had a feeling that when I picked the cocoa-nana bread that there would be some debate about the whole banana and chocolate combination. While most people love banana bread with chocolate chips, chocolate banana bread seems to be another story. There were a few substitutions that were mentioned, including apple sauce, pumpkin, pears, sweet potato so it might be an interesting week for variations. For those who were afraid of the whole chocolate-banana combination, I'd still give it a try because you never know! I was a little undecided when I first tasted this bread, but it really grew on me afterwards. The best part was the dense yet tender texture. I only wish the recipe gave the banana amount in cups because the variation in fruit size will affect the flavour and moisture of the final product. My bananas measured out to 1 cup and the bread tasted like Dorie describes, chocolate-chocolate and then you get hit with the banana.


Thanks to everyone who baked along with me! I hope I didn't ruin too many people's experiences with banana and chocolate.... the P&Q freaked me out a little.

Cocoa-nana Bread
Dorie Greenspan

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 stick unsalted butter at room temp
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped, or 1/2 cup store-bought chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan and place it on an insulated baking sheet or on two regular baking sheets stacked on top of the other. (This extra insulation will keep the bottom of the bread from over baking.)

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and baking soda.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed for about a minute, until softened. Add the sugars and beat for 2 minutes more. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for a minute after each addition. At this point, the batter may look a little curdled -- it's okay. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the mashed bananas. Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, mixing only until they disappear into the batter. Still on low speed, add the buttermilk, mixing until it is incorporated. Stir in the chopped chocolate. Scrape the batter into the pan.

Bake for 30 minutes. Cover the bread loosely with a foil tent to keep the top from getting too dark, and continue to bake for another 40 to 45 minutes (total baking time is between 70 to 75 minutes) or until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for at least 20 minutes before running a knife around the edges of the bread and unmolding. Invert and cool to room temp right side up.

Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins

After seeing these muffins on Cassie's blog, I knew I had to make them except that I sort of didn't. When I bake, I usually start gathering stuff while the butter is being creamed. Even though this can lead to a little bit of scrambling, I feel like I'm saving time. Anyway, instead of measuring 1 1/2 cups of flour, I ended up measuring 2 cups by mistake. The baking soda and salt were already mixed in so I just went with it. Normally I wouldn't, but seeing as there was 1 1/2 cups of banana, there should be no dryness issues. I also creamed the butter so maybe these aren't really the Baked muffins anymore, but they were still good! The texture was definitely lighter than banana bread with the creaming. I think it would make a good banana cake because it was tender yet sturdy. The coffee wasn't strong, but it's probably because of the extra 1/2 cup of flour I added by mistake. I'll have to make the Baked version next time and premeasure instead of reading the ingredients off my laptop as the butter is being creamed.

Where did all the chocolate chips go?!

TWD: Classic Banana Bundt Cake

The best part about bundt cakes is you never really have to decorate them because they're so pretty by themselves... that is, unless if they stick because then you have something that's a little tricky to fix. This was the first time I've ever had a cake stick on me. I knew something was wrong when the cake wouldn't budge as I was wiggling the pan around before turning it over. This was actually a pretty scary moment because the thought of having to dig my fingers down the sides and try to pry it out didn't sound too fun. Luckily, with enough shaking and jiggling around, the cake was loose enough so that I could turn it upside down. A few pieces remained stuck on the pan, but at least it came out in one piece!


This was really moist and so tender that it literally melted in my mouth. I had to retoast it because it was a little mushy. The banana flavour was good, but not as strong as I would have liked. I wish I loved this as much as everyone else seemed to on the P&Q, but I think I'm just not a banana cake person even though weirdly enough I love banana bread. I didn't like the banana cake recipes from Sky High or Chris Kimball either because they were also too sweet and a little mushy. I guess I'll just stick with banana bread, especially the Silver Palate recipe with its strong banana flavour and sturdy yet tender crumb. There's also less fat, which is always a plus!

Thanks so much to Mary of Food Librarian for choosing this recipe! You can find the recipe on her blog or in Dorie's book. Don't forget to check out the TWD blogroll!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread... Melted or Creamed?

With 2 bunches of ripe bananas, there wasn't anything better to make than banana bread, but I hope you aren't sick another banana bread post (this is my 5th one!). I love the Silver Palate Banana Bread recipe, but I don't like repeating a recipe without doing something a little different. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to do a little recipe comparison, which I love! Since many banana bread recipes use melted butter, I thought it would be fun to compare melted vs creamed. It seemed kind of pointless, since it was no surprise that melted butter would produce a denser bread, but I was curious how big of a difference it would make. This usually drives my family crazy because sometimes the differences are very tiny yet I'm still forcing them to choose between 'A or B' 'left or right'?

Melted is on the left with the more open crumb and creamed is on the right. In case you were wondering, they went into and out of the oven at the same time, baked in the same pan and each banana was cut in half so there was no difference in banana ripeness. Both versions were really good, but I prefer the creaming method because I liked its lighter yet still dense texture. The rest of my family was divided so it was a tie between creamed and melted. The differences were noticeable so if you're finding that your banana bread is too dense, I would try creaming the butter to see if it improves. Next time I make this, I'll have to use whole wheat flour. I'll probably do another comparison even though I know it will probably be denser, may as well, right?

Silver Palate Cookbook Banana Bread: (makes 1 loaf)

8 T unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 c granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 c unbleached all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c whole wheat flour (I used all purpose)
3 large ripe bananas, mashed (1 1/4 cups - 1 1/2 cups)
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 c walnuts, coarsely chopped (I used chocolate chips)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. (I used a bundt pan)
2. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time and beat.
3. Sift AP flour, soda, salt together, stir in whole wheat flour
Alternate dry mixture with bananas + vanilla, ending with dry until flour disappears. Fold in chocolate chips
5. Pour into pan. Bake 50-60 min, (it took 40 minutes in my bundt) or until cake tester comes out clean (I look for a few mini moist crumbs). Cool in pan 10 min, then flip it out onto a rack.

Banana Cupcakes

I decided to participate in May's Cooking Club Challenge hosted by Food Network Canada because they were making Anna Olson's White Chocolate Banana Loaf! There were a few mixed opinions about this recipe, but I made it anyway because I'm not sure when FN Canada will have another baking recipe. Since this recipe uses cake and pastry flour, I thought it could work well as a cupcake and frosted them with Martha's honey-cinnamon frosting I saw on Hannah's gorgeous blog, Honey and Jam. Other than the frosting and omitting the white chocolate chips from the batter, I followed the recipe.

I have to admit that I was disappointed with these banana cupcakes, especially since my kitchen was smelling so yummy while they were baking. The texture was a little too springy and loose, but not in a fluffy kind of way. Maybe it's because I'm used to banana breads being dense yet tender and super moist. Even as a cupcake, the texture seemed kind of off. I think it might be the cake flour or baking powder because this recipe has a very similar ratio of ingredients as my favourite banana bread recipe from the Silver Palate Cookbook. I thought that the honey and cinnamon frosting complimented the banana flavour really well though! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for another baking recipe for June!


Banana White Chocolate Loaf

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups pastry flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup mashed banana
1/2 cup white chocolate, chopped, plus some for drizzling (I omitted)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 6 ½ x 3-inch loaf pan. (I used a muffin tin)
2. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with banana.
4. Fold in chopped white chocolate (I omitted). Scrape batter into pan and spread evenly (I used a large cookie scoop = 3 tbsp and got 12 cupcakes)
5. Bake for 30 minutes (it took me 15 minutes) until a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a plate.

Honey-Cinnamon Frosting

1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon honey
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
(I added 2 tbsps of milk for a softer consistency)

1. Cream butter on medium high until there are no lumps and fluffy
2. Add sugar, cinnamon and honey on low. Continue beating on medium low speed until fluffy
3. Add milk by the tablespoon until desired consistency is reached

TWD: Banana Cream Pie

Custard, yum! Banana, yum! Pie crust, umm... I blame my dislike for pie crust on a scary chicken pot pie incident in grade 6 when we went on a 3 day trip at a wilderness lodge. Of course that crust is nothing compared to Dorie's and it wasn’t so much the crust that bothered me than the filling *shudders*, but for some reason I just can’t let it go. I didn't want a bunch of leftover egg whites so for every 2 yolks, I just used one egg, which worked but is probably not as rich. Here is my banana cream, which I hope is just as wonderfully delicious minus the crust and the whipped cream. There's nothing like a dusting of cinnamon sugar over bananas! (ok, so maybe it's not as delicious as whipped cream!!)

Thanks to Amy of Sing for Your Supper for choosing this recipe, which can be found on her blog and here. Don't forget to visit the TWD Blogroll!

Oops! I messed up the stupid 12:00 thing again.. I must be too stressed from the research papers I'm writing!!

Silver Palate Banana Bread

We were cleaning out the basement freezer and to my suprise, there were frozen bananas! I can't believe it's my fourth banana bread post (I made it here - CI's version, here - lower fat and here - with chocolate chips). Seriously, can anyone ever have too much banana bread?! A while ago, I saw a recipe for banana bread from the Silver Palate Cookbook that I wanted to try because compared to others I've tried, there was no added liquid (milk, buttermilk, sour cream, yogurt). When you consider how much banana is used, I guess more liquid isn't reallly necessary.

This banana bread was really delicious! The texture was soft and light compared to CI's version. It may have been a little too light for banana bread standards, but that's because while the butter, sugar and eggs were creaming, I was trying to multitask by doing dishes at the same time and left the mixer running a lot longer than usual. If you're into dense and chewy, I would try this recipe using the muffin method by melting the butter instead of creaming (or just not overcream like me..haha) because the flavour was amazing!. Doesn't it feel like sometimes that no matter how much banana is added the flavour is still weak, but at the same time adding more banana might turn the bread into mush? I love strong banana flavour, but when there are equal or more cups of banana then flour, it starts feeling gummy to me. I think the yogurt in my previous go-to recipe from CI mutes the flavour of the bananas and makes the batter too wet. The best part about this recipe was not having to wait for the centre to cook while sacrificing the rest of the loaf although I would have to bake this in a loaf pan to be sure (need Goldtouch now!). Bundt pans have way more surface area and allow for even baking. My favourite are the ones from Nordicware, which are just so heavy sometimes I feel like I might drop my cake while I'm pulling it out from my oven.

The only question is, how much banana is in 3 bananas? Mine came to 1 1/4 cup. Since that was close to the 1 1/2 cup in CI's recipe, I didn't bother adding another banana. I don't think I would use less than 1 1/4 cup of bananas though or else it probably won't be flavourful enough. There are still 3 frozen bananas left. Maybe next time I'll be confident enough to break into a bag of whole wheat flour, we'll see...

Silver Palate Cookbook Banana Bread: (makes 1 loaf)

8 T unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 c granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 c unbleached all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c whole wheat flour (I used all purpose)
3 large ripe bananas, mashed (1 1/4 cups - 1 1/2 cups)
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 c walnuts, coarsely chopped (I omitted)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. (I used a bundt pan)
2. Mix flour, soda, salt together
3. Mash bananas with a fork, add vanilla to the banana mixture.
4. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time and beat.
5. Alternately add dry and wet ingredients to butter mixture, beginning and ending with the dry (dry-wet-dry-wet-dry)
6. Pour into pan. Bake 50-60 min, or until cake tester comes out clean (I look for a few mini moist crumbs). Cool in pan 10 min, then on rack.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

There was finally some serious ripening of bananas.. about time! My family should really stop eating bananas so I can bake more banana bread.. haha. Initially, I was going to bake peanut butter banana bread, but after the whole peanut butter pumpkin bread situation that didn't go so well, I decided to make some good old fashioned banana bread with chocolate chips. I ended up bringing some to school, since I didn't exactly need another excuse to eat chocolate. It turns out that banana bread is not as popular as I thought or maybe I just picked a bunch of banana bread haters. Who says 'no thank you' to banana bread?!?!


I used my usual banana bread recipe from Cook's illustrated. Since I'm into the whole fluffy baking thing, I creamed the butter and sugar instead of melting it. This was the first time I made this particular recipe this way and it did produce a softer crumb...YAY! On the other hand, there were a lot more dishes to be done (well, actually just the paddle and the mixing bowl..haha)

Banana Bread
Cook's Illustrated, The New Best Recipe

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan
1 1/4 cups walnuts, chopped coarse
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 very ripe, soft, darkly speckled large bananas, mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out the excess.

2. Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and toast until fragrant, 5 to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

3. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and walnuts together in a large bowl; set aside.

4. Mix the mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter, and vanilla with a wooden spoon in a medium bowl. Lightly fold the banana mixture into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until just combined and the batter looks thick and chunky. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan.

5. Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. (The bread can be wrapped with plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.)

Light Banana Blueberry Bread

Our bananas ripened to the point where they just couldn't be eaten, but perfect for banana bread. This time, I decided to make light banana bread even though it involves taking out the KA. If anybody would have a tried and tested light recipe, it would be from Christopher Kimball and gang so I got the recipe from Cook's Illustrated.


I'm not usually too adventurous with the addins, mostly because I'm afraid of screwing up a perfectly good tasting recipe by adding in weird flavours or textures. My biggest fear though is from folding in anything extra and create a tough and chewy product. Every time nuts or chocolate is involved I always dump it into the flour first and then mix wet and dry. I could never risk folding it in gently after the wet and dry have been combined. In the beginning, I used to just poke blueberries in my muffins and chocolate chips in my cookies. I wasn't in the mood for chocolate or nuts so I added one cup of blueberries instead. Since there was so much fruit going in, I reduced the amount of bananas to 1 cup mashed and the sugar to 1/2 cup. As usual, I couldn't give up the opportunity to use my bundt pan!


I love blueberries and bananas together! The juicy blueberries squirt in your mouth and both fruits add a lot of moisture. I almost left my banana blueberry bread in the oven for too long, but luckily the irresistable scent of banana blueberry bread caught my attention before it was too late.

Light Banana Bread

Makes 1 9-inch loaf, serves 10

Nonstick baking spray with flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar -- divided (I used 1/2 cup)
3 very ripe bananas (about 1 1/4 pounds), mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups) (I used 1 cup)
1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional) (I used 1 cup blueberries)

Heat oven to 350. Spray loaf pan with baking spray. Mix flour, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and 1/4 cup of the sugar in medium bowl. Set aside.

In separate bowl, mix mashed banans, yogurt and vanilla. Set aside.

Beat remaining 1/2 cup sugar and butter with an electric mixer on medium high until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.

Reduce mixer speed to low. Beat in half of flour mixture, then one-third of banana mixture. Add half of the remaining flour, then one-third of banana mixture. Repeat once more, being careful not to overmix -- batter will be thick and chunky. Fold in add ins, if using.

Scrape batter into pan and sprinkle with walnuts, if using. Bake about 55 minutes, until toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove and transfer loaf to wire rack.

Banana Bread

Banana bread is one of my favourite desserts. It was actually one of the first 'scratch' recipes I tried (the other being chocolate chip cookies) and the last until I got interested in baking again this past Christmas. I will never forget the first time I made banana bread because it was dry yet uncooked, soapy, chewy and definitely overmixed. Those were the days when I didn't know that the mixing order of ingredients actually mattered, the importance of whisking the flour mixture to distribute the baking soda evenly and when using a handmixer to be extra careful not to overmix. I remember baking 3 loaves before I finally gave up and settled for storebought desserts.

I've tried almost all the recipes from allrecipes.com, but the best version is definitely from Cook's Illustrated. You don`t need to lug out the mixer or anything fancy, just 2 bowls and good wide spatula so cleanup is quick and easy. It has suprisingly good butter flavour without the banana bread tasting like a cake and uses just enough bananas for strong flavour without turning the bread gummy. Most recipes use nuts or chocolate chips or neither, but I decided to put walnuts on one side and chocolate chips on the other so I could get both. This was actually the first time I used nuts in baking and enjoyed it more than I expected. I also used a bundt pan instead of the regular loaf pan so it took 40 minutes instead of the regular 55.


I wish I was able to take a picture of the entire cake, but I couldn't resist eating a slice.. well more like 3! My bananas were speckled, but I wanted them really really ripe so I put them in a baking pan and turned the oven to 150-200F for 20 minutes. The heat carmelizes the bananas, which helps to sweeten and add more banana flavour to the bread.

EDIT: My new favourite banana recipe can be found here. It is a little fluffier than this one by Cook's Illustrated, but if you like denser and chewier, I would say go with Cook's Illustrated.

Banana Bread
Cook's Illustrated, The New Best Recipe

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan
1 1/4 cups walnuts, chopped coarse
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 very ripe, soft, darkly speckled large bananas, mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out the excess.

2. Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and toast until fragrant, 5 to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

3. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and walnuts together in a large bowl; set aside.

4. Mix the mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter, and vanilla with a wooden spoon in a medium bowl. Lightly fold the banana mixture into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until just combined and the batter looks thick and chunky. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan.

5. Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. (The bread can be wrapped with plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.)